TCI EXPO ’23 Saturday morning, like the sunset of a few days jampacked full of learning, connecting and staying up late. Coffee in hand and sleep in their eyes, an unexpectedly large crowd filled the room to gain a few tricks of the sales trade. While most presenters in this situation might choose a softer approach, I not only read the quiet room, I designed the session in the strategic way I’ve developed my sales approach – systematically.

Cue the music… “And I’m on stage just as soon as I come out the house! So I might as well give ’em something to talk about!” With the volume all the way up, I had CeeLo Green help wake up the crowd. This sunset session was starting with fireworks!

I didn’t bother introducing myself. Instead, I dove right into having attendees visualize their favorite teacher – putting on “thinking caps” and all. After igniting fond memories that connected me with the crowd, I revealed that favorite teachers have a way of getting their students interested in a topic, empowering them with education and thereby becoming unforgettable. I then correlated those feelings with loyalty, a quality all salespersons seek to achieve in a customer relationship.

Gaining cred

I finally introduced myself and my massive family, to whom I cred most of my “people skills.” I qualified my mere four-year sales experience with my sales achievements, such as $3.1 million in sales in a single year and assisting in tripling that company’s size in two years. If they hadn’t already, the crowd turned on their listening ears and were sitting up in their chairs, like freshman on the first day of high school.

Then, much like tailgating before a big game, I amped up the objective of my “Five-Step Sales Process”: to engage in customer meetings with an advisor approach, prioritizing the customer relationship and creating an open dialogue to provide solutions to a customer’s needs while gaining lasting loyalty. This tailgate experience included a playbook of “Customership Dos” and “Customership Don’ts.”

I explained that before entering any sales field, one must understand guidelines to a healthy relationship. These “don’ts” include crossing the threshold to friendship, overly customizing service offerings (unless you’re Burger King) and allowing a customer to lead the interaction. I highlighted that it is recommended to prioritize service offerings, to gather details without becoming persuaded and to harness the art of giving a customer focused time, instead of unlimited time.

I warned not to rush the meeting/conversation, but to direct it. You are leading, not following.

Walk this way

Then I ramped it up. Just as the crowd began scribbling down the golden advice showering over them, I stopped the presentation and asked for two volunteers – with formal dance training. Comedians themselves couldn’t have written a better script when two tree fellas were called to the stage. I explained that I was going to have them demonstrate the leader and follower roles of a formal dance. I told the volunteers (and the crowd) that I would secretly assign a role to each participant.

After whispering in their ears and cueing the music (CeeLo at volume high), the two fellas seemed to flounder in their attempts to dance together. It was as if they were both trying to take the lead, and neither would follow. A few comical minutes into the power struggle later, I cut the experiment. Once the confused volunteers and laughing crowd gathered composure, I explained that I had told both participants to be the leader. I correlated the unproductive and disorderedly exchange with a sales meeting where an arborist doesn’t assert the conversational lead. We’ve all been there, haven’t we?!

Five-Step Sales Process

With a game plan of key points established and with the attention of a more lighthearted crowd, I began outlining the Five-Step Sales Process, as follows.

Step 1: Connection & qualification
Quick, basic connections establish familiarity and trust, and provide you intel for estimate prioritization and organization. Learning the roots of a client, the region they grew up in and how long they’ve been at the current property affords you both the opportunity to establish a geographical connection and provides intel on how much education you’ll have to engage in. Further, qualifying your experience, the background of the company and professional certifications allows you to align objectives and justify the cost – tree work isn’t cheap, after all. Even in the absence of a laundry list of accomplishments, every one of us is a product of our experiences to date, and we all have the ability to use those opportunities to qualify our abilities. And if you freeze, remember “compliments are king.”

Step 2: The objective

Understanding the customer’s objective is vital to both prioritizing service offerings and developing an educational interaction. The customer’s objective almost immediately reveals their baseline for tree care knowledge: If Paula wants to remove all of the limbs from one side of her neighbor’s tree, we know we’re going to need to do some education on the ANSI A300. The space created in this step of the sales process also allows you to set the tone, relieve preconceived notions and disarm the customer. This is where you have the opportunity to express the benefits of science-backed recommendations as they relate to costs and timing.

But what if customers truly don’t know what they need? What if customers’ single greatest need – ironically – is to figure out exactly what they need?– Matthew Dixon, “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation”

Step 3: Education

Quick, basic analogies are everything. Make trees relatable! Having entered arboriculture with no related course studies, I used analogies to remember tree science. I compared the vascular system to that of an interstate, and a tree’s response to environmental stress to human health with work stress. Remember to K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Sweetheart – when educating the client to avoid their eyes glazing over. If done properly, customers can feel an arborist’s passion when listening to them enthusiastically share tree science. Passion is like electricity, and it draws people in. Learning something new creates empowerment, thereby establishing loyalty. Further, it qualifies value in the service. You care for what you care about!

Step 4: Challenge

While this is probably the least utilized sales tactic, I’ve dubbed it one of the most important in my sales process. This is not to be confused with a contentious or confrontational interaction. Instead, by assisting a customer out of their comfort zone, you’re challenging them to see the world around them differently. In return, they’re trusting you to guide them in the next steps, i.e., you are leading. This step typically begins with revisiting the objective originally established by the customer and allowing the customer to come to the realization that it has or must change. If effectively educated and newly empowered, the customer is challenging themselves.

Just as you can’t be an effective teacher if you’re not going to push your students, you can’t be an effective challenger if you’re not going to push your customers.– Matthew Dixon, “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation”

Note: In case the crowd had doubts, I followed this slide with some Google reviews. We all know how hard it is to get a customer to publicly proclaim good news! Interestingly enough, we have received many reviews that specifically highlight components of the sales process outlined here.

Step 5: Delivery

It is crucial to set expectations. It’s like removing a hazardous tree and forgetting to put granny’s porcelain-
tub-turned-yard-ornament back in its place. The entire sales process is a waste of time without clearly, thoroughly and repeatedly explaining the next steps and setting expectations. I share everything from proposal organizational thoughts, service delivery time and the scheduling and payment processes to any permitting required and an assignment of customer responsibilities as well as my commitments. Not only to assure the customer is informed and confident in the next steps, but to limit on time. If I have to exchange emails with a customer more than once following our meeting, I have failed this step in the process.

Closing the sale

If you’re closely following this article, my recount of the session and each step of the process, you may have made a correlation. I used the Five-Step Sales Process as the basis of my presentation.
Step 1 – Connection & Qualification: Having made a connection at the beginning, the audience related to me – we have all had a favorite teacher. Qualification: I’ve been working with people my entire life and have achieved incredible sales numbers. The audience knew I had information they wanted to learn.

Step 2 – Objective: It was pretty clear what the objective was, since they were attending a sales session, but I set some expectations.

Step 3 – Education: I educated and empowered the audience using basic analogies.

Step 4 – Challenge: I challenged their ability to think outside of normal interactions. They were locked in.

Step 5 – Delivery: The audience knew what to expect and how to achieve it! The process works in all interactions, so long as the goal is to reach a common objective through effective communication.

That’s it. That’s the secret sauce to excel in sales – oh, there’s one thing I don’t have that you do, you! Use your unique experiences to find commonalities with others. Communicate simply and be the teacher they’ll remember.

Ash Connelly, ISA Certified Arborist, is an assistant market leader in Charleston, South Carolina, for SavATree, an accredited, 39-year TCIA member company headquartered in Bedford Hills, New York. She holds the TRAQ credential, serves on the TCIA Women in Tree Care Taskforce and is a member of TCI Magazine’s Editorial Advisory Committee. Connelly previously was a paralegal for 12 years, where she gained a professional edge and perfected her writing skills.

This article is based on a session covering the same topic that he presented at TCI EXPO ’23 in St. Louis, Missouri. To watch a video recording created for that presentation, go to TCI Magazine online at tcimag.tcia.org and, under the Resources tab, click Video. Or, in the digital version of this issue, go to this paragraph and click here.

Connelly will be presenting on “Estimating Strategies to Maximize Profits” this November at TCI EXPO ’24 in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information or to register, go to www.expo.tcia.org.